Chase Briscoe said it best after climbing from his car at Darlington Raceway on Thursday.
“This is the biggest day of my life after the toughest day of my life,” said Briscoe, who learned that wife Marissa had lost the baby the couple was expecting two days before claiming the most dramatic victory of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.
And after that intensely contested win, Briscoe now holds the series lead entering Monday’s Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Over the last two laps of the rain-delayed Toyota 200, Briscoe swapped the lead—and traded sheet metal—with the foremost driver in the history of the series, Kyle Busch. After surrendering the top spot on the penultimate lap, Briscoe crossed over to the inside and beat Busch back to the finish line to post his second win of the season.
The Darlington victory clearly was the most emotional of Briscoe’s life.
“I was balling my eyes out the last quarter-lap, once I knew I beat him off of (Turn) 4 and all the way around the cool down lap,” Briscoe said. “But, honestly, the last six or seven laps looking out my mirror and seeing Kyle, it was just like a Hollywood story. I just had a feeling it was going to come down to me and him.
“I didn’t realize it was going to be as close as it was, but I had a feeling that it was just meant to be, and I wasn’t 100 percent sure I was going to beat him, especially when it got down to two (laps) to go, but I had a peace about it, and whatever happened, I was going to be OK with it.”
Briscoe got his the first of his four career Xfinity wins in 2018 at Charlotte—in the first event in the series on the Roval (road course)—but his two starts on the 1.5-mile oval have resulted in finishes 11th and 19th. With two-time champion Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer all having graduated to the NASCAR Cup Series, however, Briscoe has to like his prospects for Monday’s race at Charlotte.
Not only that, he’s the only multiple winner in the Xfinity Series this season, having triumphed at 1.5-mile Las Vegas before the hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Then again, to win Monday’s race, he’ll have to accomplish the formidable task of beating Kyle Busch in consecutive starts.
Source: NASCAR Wire Service
